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The International Securities Exchange (ISE) announced that it recently began trading options on the following FocusShares exchange traded funds (ETFs) that track the performance of four of ISE's unique proprietary indexes: FocusShares ISE-CCM Homeland Security Index Fund (Ticker: MYP), FocusShares ISE SINdex Fund (Ticker: PUF), FocusShares ISE Homebuilders Index Fund (Ticker: SAW) and FocusShares ISE-Revere Wal-Mart Supplier Index Fund (Ticker: WSI). Timber Hill LLC serves as the Primary Market Maker for all four of these new options.
Kris Monaco, ISE's Director of New Product Development, said, We are very pleased to add four new options products to the suite of complementary investment vehicles that are based on our unique sector indexes. Through our partnership with FocusShares, we are providing investors with exciting new products that enable them to trade their views on specialized and emerging market sectors.
Erik Liik, CEO of FocusShares, said, ISE's innovative indexes include only companies that derive a substantial portion of their revenues from a specific industry. The FocusShares ETFs based on these benchmarks provide investors with targeted exposure to each specific sector, and as our products gain momentum we are pleased that investors can now trade options on our ETFs as part of their trading strategy.
Additional details on the FocusShares ETFs, which began trading on NYSE-Arca on November 30, 2007, can be found below:
FocusShares ISE-CCM Homeland Security Index Fund (NYSE Arca: MYP) - Tracks the ISE-CCM Homeland Security Index which measures the performance of the companies primarily engaged in the business of contractual work with the department of Homeland Security, law enforcement agencies, or providing products or services for the following efforts: intelligence and warning; border and transportation security; domestic counterterrorism; protection of critical infrastructure; defense against catastrophic threats; and, emergency preparedness and response.
FocusShares ISE SINdex Fund (NYSE Arca: PUF) - Tracks the performance of the ISE SINdex, which focuses on operators of casinos and gaming facilities, producers of beer and malt liquors, distillers, vintners and producers of other alcoholic beverages, and manufacturers of cigarettes and other tobacco.
FocusShares ISE Homebuilders Index Fund (NYSE Arca: SAW) - Tracks the performance of the ISE Homebuilders Index which measures stocks of residential construction companies and prefabricated house manufacturers.
FocusShares ISE-REVERE Wal-Mart Supplier Index Fund (NYSE Arca: WSI) - Tracks the performance of the ISE-Revere Wal-Mart Supplier Index which is made up of stocks of companies that derive a substantial portion of revenue from supplying Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Additional information about ISE's portfolio of proprietary sector indexes, including methodology guides, component lists and weightings, performance metrics and historical data, is available on ISE's website at www.ise.com/indexoptions.
ISE Background
The International Securities Exchange operates a family of fully electronic trading platforms, creating efficient markets through innovative technology and market structure. ISE's markets portfolio consists of an options exchange and a stock exchange. As the world's largest equity options trading venue, ISE offers equity, ETF, index, and FX options. The ISE Stock Exchange trades approximately 6,000 products, and is the only fully electronic equities platform that provides the opportunity for continuous price improvement through the interaction of its non-displayed liquidity pool, MidPoint Match, and its displayed stock market. ISE Alternative Markets is scheduled to launch in 2008 and will offer an events market trading platform for derivatives auctions. To complement its markets and enable investors to trade smarter, ISE creates innovative new products including a portfolio of proprietary indexes and enhanced market data products for sophisticated investors.
ISE is a wholly owned subsidiary of Eurex, a leading global derivatives exchange that is part of Deutsche Bvrse Group (Ticker: DB1). Together, Eurex and ISE are the global market leader in individual equity and equity index derivatives.
For more information about ISE, visit www.ise.com.
FocusShares Background
FocusShares, LLC (FocusShares) is an investment management company that has a single mission - to develop and issue exchange traded funds (ETFs) that not only capture investors imagination but most importantly allow investors to own and trade targeted investment objectives. FocusShares has built ETFs that are based off indexes from the International Securities Exchange (ISE).
